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RSS Underground XML Article

So you've decided to beef up your web site by adding an XML feed. This is a great idea; whether you maintain a personal weblog or operate an independent news site, adding an XML feed is a surefire way to keep your RSS-friendly readers in the know. Not only will they appreciate the access to constantly updated content, they'll love no longer having to check the site daily for new information -- now it comes straight to them! What's more, maintaining an XML feed makes it highly possible for you to attract readers who otherwise may have never stumbled onto your site. Everyone wins.

But how, exactly, do you find (and eventually keep) those readers?

1. Use the Community. No matter the subject area of your web site, the vastness of the Internet is bound to have some sort of burgeoning community for it. Readers and writers of RSS feeds love to communicate, so get in there and communicate with them! Find like-minded sites featuring like-minded feeds and trade links; if the site-owners appreciate your content, they'll almost always share the information with others. These virtual hubs of knowledge are well worth getting to know -- word of mouth, after all, is a powerful thing.

2. Keep Up the Updates. Though this seems to go without saying, frequently updating the content of your site is vital to the life of your XML feed. The purpose here is two-fold. First of all, fresh and well-written content is the best way to keep readers coming back for more; after all, an XML feed thrives on constant updates and readers expect that sort of timeliness. But secondly, and perhaps most importantly, frequently updating your content keeps your site's name near the top of the directories' list of newly updated feeds. By attempting to stay near the front page, readers will come to know you as a common player, thus increasing their interest in what you have to say. Just make sure you aren't updating simply for the sake of updating; RSS-users are capable of seeing right through that tactic and will sometimes abandon a feed for being too obnoxious in its promotional efforts.

3. Remember the Reader. It's important to make your XML feed as accessible and user-friendly as possible. Say, for instance, that a reader stumbles onto your site and enjoys the content but knows nothing about RSS, how it works and how they can use it. Well, why not help them out? Create a separate page on your site that explains the function and purpose of RSS and clues readers in to some of the best aggregators; often, they'll take heed, check out the format and subscribe to your feed. And they might even share the information with some of their friends!

4. Feature the Feed. It's also important to make your XML feed's presence very apparent on your site. Make sure to place the orange XML or RSS button in a place that readers will immediately see it; they can't subscribe, after all, if they don't know it's there. And get acquainted with the capabilities of different web browsers. Some, such as Firefox, will automatically detect a site's XML feed and ask users if they'd like to subscribe, a feature called Auto-Discovery All you have to do is enable it within your feed using the browser's enabling code and your XML feed will be automatically promoted for you. And after all the work you've done to boost up your visibility, isn't it worth just another second's effort to have some of the promotion accomplished for you?

5. Know the Directories. One of the easiest and most efficient ways to get your XML feed noticed above the World Wide Web's white noise is to submit it to as many RSS directories as possible. These sites function for the sole purpose of listing new and newly updated feeds. Diligent readers will frequently browse for content, thirsty for the freshest information the Internet has to offer, and maintaining your presence on these directories is essential to alerting readers of your presence. Granted, this is sometimes easier said than done; hundred, if not thousands, of RSS directories exist and hundreds, if not thousands, of XML feeds fight for a presence on them. But by knowing the best directories to submit to (see the links below for just a few) and keeping abreast of any new directories that pop up, your XML feed won't go unnoticed.

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You Need XML Codes to Promote Your Website

Do you have a web site? If so, you need an ROR XMLNS code button which leads to a full ROR/RDF code page for your web site. This code tells search engines all about the special details you input into the code about your web site. For example, it tells them special details about each particular product (or certain special ones) that you sell on your site or sites, it tells the search engine bots your contact information such as your business address and phone number (without informing the entire universe, as the code is invisible to all but you and the search engine bots examining your web site), it gives info on special other links you want the search engine bots to associate with your web site, and it gives any other such major info that you want the big search engines to explore and know all about from your web site.

That's why you need this latest and greatest in Internet code technology: the ROR/RDF XMLNS code. It's a form of XML that doesn't validate like an RSS or Atom feed does; it validates through the RDF Validation Service. You can look that up on the Net, and you'll see what I mean. Meanwhile, there's the matter of the Really Simple Syndication and the Atom XML codes. These codes DO validate through RSS Validation sites as regular feed codes. These codes, also known as feeds, can be taken by people visiting your web site and input into their own RSS and Atom feed readers, such as RSS Reader (which you can download for free off of their web site) and other news aggregators and feed readers.

These codes are great for spreading news on your web site around. Basically, they each introduce important parts of your web site -- or even your whole site in its entirety -- if you choose that you want to spread every page around to the general public through what's normally known as news and weblog aggregation readers and services. You can find these services on web sites all over the Web, and they're rapidly gaining in use and popularity. A good example of such a service is the NewsIsFree web site, a news aggregator. These services usually take news feeds of all kinds and some blogs, plus they're starting to take advertisement feeds. This latter portion is a bit of a worry due to the fact that spyware and adware can thus be passed in a widespread manner all around the WWW.

This is being looked into very seriously by the experts. Most people are concerned that RSS will be used like a tool for this, so please be careful about copying RSS advertisement feeds into your news or weblog feeds aggregator. The news and the normal daily or weekly expression weblog feeds should be perfectly safe, for now. You should be able to scan RSS and Atom feeds for all types of malware someday in the not too distant future.

The RSS and Atom feeds are attached generally to little tiny orange buttons labeled "XML" and nothing more. Sometimes Atom feeds are attached to little blue buttons labeled "ATOM". The buttons are less than half an inch long and only a few centimeters wide, and would be very hard to see if it weren't for their bright coloration. The type they sport is a bright white, too. Some services are starting to use slightly larger and more visible but similar buttons for their particular XML-related services. The ROR/RDF XMLNS buttons are a little bigger, being an inch long, but are the same thickness as the RSS/Atom buttons and are half orange and half grey. They say "ROR" in the orange portion and "INFO" on the grey side, off-center. They also have a light yellow line around each portion and the margin of the button, plus the type is a light yellow, making them a bit easier to see without being so brightly colored. They're mostly placed visibly on your site in order to boast that you now sport ROR/RDF code on your web site.

You can go ahead and even input the code directly into your site without ever bothering to use one of the colorful but dull ROR buttons. Just upload the code in an ror.xml text file into the root directory of the site. You will have to do this whether you show the button or not, anyway, and you also have to do this in the case of the RSS and Atom codes. They upload as feed.xml and atom.xml or something very similar to that in most cases. There is some leeway when assigning the filenames to these special XML codes, but they have to be uploaded as text files into your web site's root directory. You might, however, want to display one or more of the ROR buttons on your web site, preferably on your site map or home page, as this button is solely there so that search engines can pick up valuable information you want to share with them about your web site.

The more such links you have, the more often major search engine bots will pick up on them, you see. So we advise you to proudly display that you have ROR/RDF code on your web site. If you would like to know more about these fascinating codes, please contact Rainbow Writing, Inc. at karencole@rainbowriting.com for more information. Also, we can readily build you any or each of these codes for a small fee. We hereby suggest you definitely get at least an ROR code for your web site to raise your rankings in the search engines, or to keep them high, and an RSS code for a web site feed for your valuable web site or web sites. Remember that you can hook up more than one web site in a single feed or one ROR/RDF file code. This is one thing that makes these special codes so popular and valuable to users.

You will see little tiny, colorful buttons on several of the web sites you are visiting nowadays, especially the major company ones. Probably, you've already seen them, and now you know what they are! Pretty soon nobody will be able to do without these little "pill" buttons to advertise all of the services they have to offer their commercial or even their personal public. Sound like a fair deal? Write us ASAP at karencole@rainbowriting.com and we'll get cracking on generating perfect, simple, streamlined and fully validatable (that means it completely functions) code for you.

We believe a professional should do this for you, but if you have the time, there are web site tutorials on the Net that show you how to slowly or swiftly learn, depending on your speed, how to write validatable XML code. This can be quite complicated, so we are highly recommending that you use our services. Please write to us today and see exactly what we can do for you in the realm of authoring these somewhat complicated yet streamlined and enormously useful XML codes.

POSTSCRIPT: Nowadays you also need a Google Sitemap for your web site to make it properly Google-friendly. This is an xml code page that will list every change you make to any page of your web site, and it's called a sitemap code. Google will reindex your site daily, weekly or monthly based on the information it gets from your sitemap. We can save you the trouble and build you one of those for a very low price, as well as any of the other codes mentioned above.

Do you have a web site? If so, you need an ROR XMLNS code button which leads to a full ROR/RDF code page for your web site. This code tells search engines all about the special details you input into the code about your web site. For example, it tells them special details about each particular product (or certain special ones) that you sell on your site or sites, it tells the search engine bots your contact information such as your business address and phone number (without informing the entire universe, as the code is invisible to all but you and the search engine bots examining your web site), it gives info on special other links you want the search engine bots to associate with your web site, and it gives any other such major info that you want the big search engines to explore and know all about from your web site.

That's why you need this latest and greatest in Internet code technology: the ROR/RDF XMLNS code. It's a form of XML that doesn't validate like an RSS or Atom feed does; it validates through the RDF Validation Service. You can look that up on the Net, and you'll see what I mean. Meanwhile, there's the matter of the Really Simple Syndication and the Atom XML codes. These codes DO validate through RSS Validation sites as regular feed codes. These codes, also known as feeds, can be taken by people visiting your web site and input into their own RSS and Atom feed readers, such as RSS Reader (which you can download for free off of their web site) and other news aggregators and feed readers.

These codes are great for spreading news on your web site around. Basically, they each introduce important parts of your web site -- or even your whole site in its entirety -- if you choose that you want to spread every page around to the general public through what's normally known as news and weblog aggregation readers and services. You can find these services on web sites all over the Web, and they're rapidly gaining in use and popularity. A good example of such a service is the NewsIsFree web site, a news aggregator. These services usually take news feeds of all kinds and some blogs, plus they're starting to take advertisement feeds. This latter portion is a bit of a worry due to the fact that spyware and adware can thus be passed in a widespread manner all around the WWW.

This is being looked into very seriously by the experts. Most people are concerned that RSS will be used like a tool for this, so please be careful about copying RSS advertisement feeds into your news or weblog feeds aggregator. The news and the normal daily or weekly expression weblog feeds should be perfectly safe, for now. You should be able to scan RSS and Atom feeds for all types of malware someday in the not too distant future.

The RSS and Atom feeds are attached generally to little tiny orange buttons labeled "XML" and nothing more. Sometimes Atom feeds are attached to little blue buttons labeled "ATOM". The buttons are less than half an inch long and only a few centimeters wide, and would be very hard to see if it weren't for their bright coloration. The type they sport is a bright white, too. Some services are starting to use slightly larger and more visible but similar buttons for their particular XML-related services. The ROR/RDF XMLNS buttons are a little bigger, being an inch long, but are the same thickness as the RSS/Atom buttons and are half orange and half grey. They say "ROR" in the orange portion and "INFO" on the grey side, off-center. They also have a light yellow line around each portion and the margin of the button, plus the type is a light yellow, making them a bit easier to see without being so brightly colored. They're mostly placed visibly on your site in order to boast that you now sport ROR/RDF code on your web site.

You can go ahead and even input the code directly into your site without ever bothering to use one of the colorful but dull ROR buttons. Just upload the code in an ror.xml text file into the root directory of the site. You will have to do this whether you show the button or not, anyway, and you also have to do this in the case of the RSS and Atom codes. They upload as feed.xml and atom.xml or something very similar to that in most cases. There is some leeway when assigning the filenames to these special XML codes, but they have to be uploaded as text files into your web site's root directory. You might, however, want to display one or more of the ROR buttons on your web site, preferably on your site map or home page, as this button is solely there so that search engines can pick up valuable information you want to share with them about your web site.

The more such links you have, the more often major search engine bots will pick up on them, you see. So we advise you to proudly display that you have ROR/RDF code on your web site. If you would like to know more about these fascinating codes, please contact Rainbow Writing, Inc. at karencole@rainbowriting.com for more information. Also, we can readily build you any or each of these codes for a small fee. We hereby suggest you definitely get at least an ROR code for your web site to raise your rankings in the search engines, or to keep them high, and an RSS code for a web site feed for your valuable web site or web sites. Remember that you can hook up more than one web site in a single feed or one ROR/RDF file code. This is one thing that makes these special codes so popular and valuable to users.

You will see little tiny, colorful buttons on several of the web sites you are visiting nowadays, especially the major company ones. Probably, you've already seen them, and now you know what they are! Pretty soon nobody will be able to do without these little "pill" buttons to advertise all of the services they have to offer their commercial or even their personal public. Sound like a fair deal? Write us ASAP at karencole@rainbowriting.com and we'll get cracking on generating perfect, simple, streamlined and fully validatable (that means it completely functions) code for you.

We believe a professional should do this for you, but if you have the time, there are web site tutorials on the Net that show you how to slowly or swiftly learn, depending on your speed, how to write validatable XML code. This can be quite complicated, so we are highly recommending that you use our services. Please write to us today and see exactly what we can do for you in the realm of authoring these somewhat complicated yet streamlined and enormously useful XML codes.

POSTSCRIPT: Nowadays you also need a Google Sitemap for your web site to make it properly Google-friendly. This is an xml code page that will list every change you make to any page of your web site, and it's called a sitemap code. Google will reindex your site daily, weekly or monthly based on the information it gets from your sitemap. We can save you the trouble and build you one of those for a very low price, as well as any of the other codes mentioned above.

Understanding XML Server

XML Server can be a Web Server that stores the XML files in it and serves them on demand. The XML Server would have processing capabilities with an XML engine and to transform the XML document to other forms. Basically a server which hosts and serves the XML documents is called a XML Server.

There are many commercially available XML Servers in the market. The popular among them are the Tamino Server, the Sonic Server and the FDX XML Server. Though the basic functions of these servers are same the way they are implemented and the features that they support varies.

The Tamino XML Server is from Software AG and is used to publish and exchange all kinds of data especially the XML documents in the native format. It handles open standards. Leveraging on the XML technologies will improve an organizations data access.

Exchange of data between different applications on different platforms is possible using XML technologies. Hence organizations are moving on to store their data in XML format to take advantage of the XML technologies. Storing the data in XML format improves the performance of delivery and scalability of your applications with low operational and administrative costs.

In traditional relational databases, data is stored in rows and columns which can be too complex. But in the case of an XML Server such complexity is avoided and any data can be stored which includes even multimedia files and even relational data. These data can be easily retrieved at lightning speed using a Tamino XML Server.

To retrieve data that is requested by any application, XQuery is used in Tamino XML Server. This server implements the XQuery specification draft. Hence queries on the server can be issued using the internet and data can be returned in any format by using XSL style sheets. Thus the customers can manipulate the format of presentation of the data that is presented using style sheets. High speed retrieval of data is possible in XML Server.

The Tamino XML Server is robust, reliable, and scalable. It is used in mission critical environments and there is almost no failure and loss of data. It is reliable in the sense it supports backup of data that can be stored in external devices or remote devices and used in clustered environments. The number of users can be increased and the load on the server can also be increased.

The document structure can take additional elements without changing the entire structure of the data store. These characteristics of the XML Server help it to be used in mission critical environments. Developers can develop XML applications very faster by using Tamino XML Server. It can be easily integrated with application servers.

FDX XML Server is another XML Server available in the market. This product is created by Snapbridge. This server is also used to create and deploy sophisticated XML applications. XSL, XSLT and scripts are supported in this server so that data can be transformed to any format requested by the user or any other application.

Sonic XML Server is another product from Sonic software which is built upon the native XML processing engine. This helps in pipelined processing of XML documents which eliminates the need for generating intermediate xml text file for processing. This improves the speed of the transaction dramatically.

This pipelined processing of the document helps in very large and complex processing tasks to improve the speed of those tasks. The in-built engine in the Sonic XML Server enables a user to store any size of XML document in it and to query, retrieve and update that data.

We have seen that an XML Server is any server that gives an XML document as an output so that the other applications can use it for processing. The document can be delivered in any format using XSL and XSLT engines. It is possible for us to write some code in ASP which will serve an XML document to the user when they view that ASP page. We can store this code in a web server and this code can be said to be a very simple XML Server since it serves the user with an XML document. Go through the code given below:

Save the above code in your web server as book.asp and store it in the same directory where you stored your other web pages. Then view that page in the browser to see an XML document in display. In the above code you may note that the content type for the page is set to "text/xml". This is why the output is displayed as XML file. You may develop a little more complex program to retrieve data from a database and generate an XML document from the data retrieved from the database. Thus you can start developing your own XML web server.

Want to stay current with the latest technology developments realted to XML. Visit XML Reference Guide to get your FREE subscription now!

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RSS, XML And Feed Readers? Huh? Help!

Have you seen them yet? The little orange graphics that say XML or RSS? Have you ever wondered what the heck they are? Yeah, me to. And, being as curious as a cat, I had to find out!

It wasn't hard to get most of the info I needed. All I did was search for RSS at Google and a ton of resources came up. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Hmmm...really simple? Yeah, it really is pretty simple and it makes keeping up with news, sports, entertainment and business, well...really simple.

Basically, what happens is, say you read the Wall Street Journal, CNN and ESPN everyday. You also read a couple of business newsletters weekly or when they get delivered to your email inbox and you read your niece's weblog (short for weblog [web-log]) that gets updated 'whenever'. Okay, so you go to each of the web sites each day and do your thing, right? Well, if those sites offer an RSS Feed (which they do - look for the little orange RSS or XML graphic) then you can have their content or articles sent directly to your computer. No more going through multiple web sites, it's all delivered to you in an RSS Reader right on your computer. And oh, there are also web based readers as well, you just choose the one you prefer.

Now, what's so great about that? Well, let's take a one of my web sites, http://www.GiftBasketWholesaleSupply.com, as an example. Let's say you set up all your news sites, newsletters and blogs so you can read them in your RSS Reader and then you find out that Gift Basket Wholesale Supply has a weblog that's updated whenever new items are posted to the site. AND...that weblog has an RSS Feed...voila!, you add Gift Basket Wholesale Supply's RSS Feed to your RSS Reader and you don't have to worry about checking the site for new merchandise ever again. Now, you're notified AUTOMATICALLY by way of a posting to their weblog that is delivered to your RSS Reader. Isn't that wonderful? How many of your suppliers offer this service? Well, if I were you, I'd find out because your life could get a whole lot easier! And what's so great about an RSS Feed is you don't have to deal with any spam, you only get the content you ASK for! Cool, huh?

Okay, so now what are you supposed to do? You want to start reading your news and business reports in an RSS reader but you don't know what to do or how to get started. Well, I did the research...I found THE BEST resource for you to use to get started. It's CNET, a wonderful techie site that takes techie info and breaks it down for the rest of us. There's a page that explains RSS, and there's a great video as well. You'll also find links and reviews to all the different readers (be careful, some are free, some are not). You've gotta go there and check it out, here are direct links to both the pages mentioned.

First, the desktop RSS Reader I use is called FeedReader. It's very similar to an email program and even makes the same tah-dah sound that Outlook Express makes for a new email when a feed is updated. The best thing is...it's free, all you have to do is download and install it. Here's the link:

Second, I also like to use MyYahoo. To use MyYahoo, you just have to sign up for an account at Yahoo.com, it's free. Most people already have one anyway. If you use Yahoo Mail or participate in Yahoo Groups, you already have an account. Just go to Yahoo.com, be sure you're signed in and click the MyYahoo button at the very top of the page.

MyYahoo will let you customize your page and pulls only the information you want to read. To add an RSS Feed, click on the Add Content link, when you get to the next page click on the 'Add RSS by URL' link that's right next to the 'Find' button. On the resulting page you can enter the RSS Feed URL. (Don't worry, the video mentioned above will tell you how to get the feed URL, remember, there's a link above to CNET's video). It's that simple!

Lastly, there is one other RSS Reader that I've heard great things about, it's called FeedDemon. CNet has it as one of it's top rated readers and I've talked with a few friends that say they couldn't live without it. I guess, it's worth looking at, huh? Here's the link:

So, I hope now you're as curious as I was about RSS! Believe me, it's the way you'll be handling all the internet content you read on a regular basis, so go get started now and get a jump on your friends!

Content Creator - Have you been trying to build web sites with Adsense to generate an online income? But really all you have done is generate web sites that aren't earning money and just causing you heartache. Ok let me start by stating that I have no technical ability when it comes to designing web sites. So, like many, I have gone down the long route of buying nearly all the so called easy softwares for getting your sites up and running, spending in the process in excess of a thousand dollars.

Business Blogging - Business blogging is becoming quite the rage. Many companies are looking for an inexpensive way to advertise on the web, and blogs fill that need. As more and more people turn to blogs for information, business blogging may just be the next frontier for small and big business alike.

Website Content - This is in addition to reducing the amount of time it takes to complete a marketing project. One client, for example, had been struggling for three years to write a web site incentive showing attorneys how to prepare an effective marketing plan.

Content Networks - The thought of making even a part-time income as a freelance Web writer from home can be quite appealing. Yet, finding small niche sites that are looking for articles, paying a decent amount of money, and buying content from freelancers with your particular expertise can be a daunting task. Enter online content networks.

Business Blog - Business blogs are primarily used to improve a company's communication both internally and externally. Business blogs are a type of communication channel that could be used effectively in product launches, team interaction internally within the company or interaction between clients and company. With the level of interactivity blogs provide, clients feel more confident in the company. Not to mention the amount of traffic it brings to the main site.

Blogging Method - If I told you that five minutes after reading this you could have a web site up and running that can promote your online business, boost your traffic, provide better customer service, and help you make more sales...

Content Article - Article directories have taken the internet by storm. That is a good thing, as it allows authors to distribute their content and allows publishers to grab content for their web site, but unfortunately, many article directories are offering a huge disservice to authors and publishers due to poorly designed directories.

Content Problem - As a retired Software Engineer(big word for under paid corporation slave). I got tired of setting around to house telling my cat to stop doing the things cats do. I started a side business repairing computers. But I messed the call of coding and creating things... that's what I like best about design be it software or graphics.

Debt Consolidation Blogging - As blogging continues to grow in power and influence, the power and importance of debt consolidation blogging continues to grow as well. It is important for those in need of debt consolidation and financial advice to carefully consider their needs, and to find a debt consolidation blogging site or sites that best meets their own needs.

Adding Fresh Content - As you start getting more media-savvy, you'll find yourself coming up with more and more information and ideas to help the public. Not all of these ideas will strike the fancy of your media contacts, but don't let them go to waste--become a media person yourself by publishing an e-zine.

Low Traffic Blogging - If only the millions of people currently blogging could understand that they do not need high traffic to make money, it would make a huge difference. But first and foremost, it is important to understand that you will need to completely change your approach. The whole idea is that there is stuff that is best suited only to high traffic sites, just like there are things that work best work with low traffic sites only.

Free Blogging Service - As blogging continues to grow in power and influence, the power and importance of debt consolidation blogging continues to grow as well. It is important for those in need of debt consolidation and financial advice to carefully consider their needs, and to find a debt consolidation blogging site or sites that best meets their own needs.

Quality Content - As the Internet continues to mature, the effectiveness of the once tried and tested methods for driving traffic to your web site seems to be diminishing. Wouldn't you agree? How much do you spend (or plan to spend) on the more traditional online advertising methods each year? Too much I'm sure, money that should have otherwise stayed in your pockets.

Renting Blog Space - At present we hear more often that adsense is used as an effective tool to display contextually relevant advertisements of a company or product on the web site. If a visitor clicks on the advertisement to check it out the advertisement poster earns a percentage of revenue. Many webmasters are increasingly used the Google Adsense model as it is very effective and popular.

Content Creators - As the market floods with CMS solutions offered by a hundred different companies, one may start thinking "How in the world am I going to find a CMS that will firstly gives me what I want and need now and secondly will that system be able to provide me with what I am going to need in say 4 to 10 years from now?".

Web Publisher Blog - If someone were to tell you that you could create a global business, completely for free, with nothing more than the tools you already have, and the investment of your time, you'd question their sanity. Nevertheless, it's true. If blogging appeals to you, you can create a viable Internet business within a few months: for free.